Fall 2009 Facts and Figures

synapse: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine

University of Nevada School of Medicine basic science researcher Kent Sanders, Ph.D. Photo by Jean Dixon.

Nevada’s public universities combined generated $16.6 million in National Institutes of Health funding for Nevada in 2008. Of this total, $9.75 million, or 59 percent, was generated by the School of Medicine.

The school has Nevada’s only NIH MERIT, or Methods to Extend Research in Time, scholars: Joseph Hume, Ph.D. and Kenton Sanders, Ph.D. MERIT scholars represent less than 2 percent of all NIH grants.

Thomas Kozel, Ph.D., professor and former chair of the microbiology and immunology department, holds a 31-year NIH grant on opportunistic fungal infections, one of the longest running in the NIH portfolio.

The School of Medicine has the only two Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence grants in Nevada. Hume, Department of Pharmacology, and Sanders, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, are the leaders of these two projects that will collectively bring more than $21.4 million in biomedical research funding.

The School of Medicine has the only Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence grant in Nevada led by principal investigator, James Kenyon, Ph.D. This grant is for $17.3 million in total funding.

Sanders has the only NIH Program Project Grant in Nevada which was recently renewed at more than $8 million through 2014.

Of the 38 university-generated NIH grants in Nevada, 24 are with the School of Medicine.

Three School of Medicine basic science departments rank above their peers. While in total NIH research funding Nevada ranks 101 of 123 medical schools across the country, the physiology department placed 39th, the pharmacology department ranked 44th, and the microbiology and immunology department placed 61st.

Features

East Meets WestGlobal health study can be an enlightening component of the medical education process. The desire to form international relationships is a significant part of that process at many medical institutions.

Findings in Male InfertilityA research team led by Wei Yan, M.D., Ph.D., has discovered insight into the reproductive workings of the male sex chromosome that may have significant implications for male infertility and contraception.

East Meets WestGlobal health study can be an enlightening component of the medical education process. The desire to form international relationships is a significant part of that process at many medical institutions.

Findings in Male InfertilityA research team led by Wei Yan, M.D., Ph.D., has discovered insight into the reproductive workings of the male sex chromosome that may have significant implications for male infertility and contraception.